Approach articles from November 2005

Approach archives from November 2005

Admiral's corner.
November 1, 2005... From Commander, Naval Safety Center We used to lose a plane or two every day and hold memorial services every week for our young men who regularly perished in their flying machines. But that was 50 years ago. Naval aviation has come a...

1955-1965.(aircraft industry and its aircrafts)
November 1, 2005... New Aircraft: 1955: Chance Vought XF8U-1 Crusader makes first flight. 1956: First Douglas A3Ds join the fleet with VAH-1 at NAS Jacksonville. 1958: North American T2J-1 (later T-2A) Buckeye makes its first flight. T-2B and T-2C...

Anymouse's anniversary.
November 1, 2005... September 1955 The theme of this issue is to induce "all hands" to report incidents by submitting Anymouse Reports. This is one answer to getting the word out on safety. With this issue Anymouse celebrates his second anniversary of...

... And then there were none ...
November 1, 2005... November 1955 It was a "routine" flight by members of a reserve squadron. Eight pilots were scheduled. Seven got airborne. Five continued the flight to various unscheduled conclusions. One pilot died. In terms of experience and...

The return of Walter Smitty.(after the accident)
November 1, 2005... March 1956 Herewith, in response to the number of requests (two by actual count), the Approach chronicles another episode in the fabulous career of Lt. (jg.) Walter Smitty, Scourge of the Skies. Smitty's initial appearance was in the...

1966-1975.(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... New Aircraft: 1968: Developed from the A-6A with an extended cockpit, the EA-6B Prowler makes its first flight. 1971: The AV-8A Harrier arrives in Marine Corps squadrons. 1972: The S-3 Viking makes its first flight. Important...

Will to survive.(from an aircraft accident)
November 1, 2005... December 1966 (With his will to survive, plain gut courage and coolness in a combat ejection survival situation, the pilot whose narrative we present here typifies the caliber and training of the Navy fliers performing some of the toughest...

Imagine the consternation the would arise if the PPC of a P-3 crew walked up to the maintenance officer and announced ... we just spun it.
November 1, 2005... February 1974 Approach writers (mostly gray-haired old fudds), have become pretty calloused over the years. Whatever unusual tricks that can be done in aircraft, they have either done themselves, know someone who has, or have read about it...

The "scapegoat".(pilot dreaming about his first flight)
November 1, 2005... November 1974 I just couldn't hold onto it. I suspect there was some kind of control failure, or else the downwind oleo collapsed just as I approached flying speed. Maybe a tire blew, but then I didn't touch the brakes during the roll. I...

1976-1985.(Marine Corps's CH-53)
November 1, 2005... New Aircraft: 1976: The Navy accepts the first turboprop T-34C to replace the piston-engined T-34B and T-28C. The AH-1T Sea Cobra joins the Marine Corps after testing by Bell. 1977: The first production P-3C Update II arrives at...

The Ten Commandments of the Landing Signal Officer (LSO).
November 1, 2005... November 1984 I. THINE EYES BELONG IN THE GROOVE This may be the most difficult law to impress on the new LSO. A multitude of aircraft have been saved long before the ball call. The controlling LSO doesn't have to look at the book or...

"5977 and the next 50 years".
November 1, 2005... Painted in 2005 for the Naval Safety Center's Approach magazine's 50th anniversary issue. The painting depicts the not-quite-yet deployed USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) in the foreground, and the USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in the background. An...

Touch-and-go with the Grim Reaper.(personal narrative of airplane pilot about an accident)
November 1, 2005... December 1980 THE stench of jet exhaust and scorched tires and the deafening roar of a Phantom, just snatched out of the blackness, drift down the flight deck. Four sets of eyeballs return seaward, scanning the glide slope for the next...

Double flameout or how to ruin a box lunch.(personal narrative of airplane pilots)
November 1, 2005... June 1983 I was eating my apple when it happened--a loud bang aft. At the same time, both engines of our H-46 Sea Knight were winding down. The HAC immediately entered an autorotation and turned toward the beach, approximately two miles...

The mad monsters of the air.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... August 1979 Presented by the 'Mad Foxes' of Patron 5 COMMplacentius (failures to communicatus) He's got a lot to say, but nomouth with which to say it. GETHOMEitius (homingus pigeonus) This hardshelled creature endears...

1986-1995.
November 1, 2005... New Aircraft: 1987: The E-6A Hermes makes its first flight. The aircraft was later renamed Mercury, the Roman version of the Greek Hermes. 1988: The T-45A Goshawk makes its first flight. Important Dates: January 28, 1986: The...

"Bless me XO, for I have sinned ...".
November 1, 2005... I sensed it was wrong from the moment I finished. While what I had said was true, the forum and my manner were wrong. At an AOM, in a latter-day episode of "True Confessions," a junior officer had related an experience from his past weekend's...

The world's greatest attack pilot.
November 1, 2005... August 1987 When I was last published in Approach, it was as an anonymous (thank God/) nugget explaining to the world how one goes about landing at the wrong airport. The wrong airport was Fallon Municipal. It turned out I was one of three...

The first ejection.
November 1, 2005... October 1986 It happened on August 9, 1949. Lt. Jack L. Fruin of VF 171 was on a routine training flight after picking up a new F2H Banshee at Cherry Point. Flying at 38,000 feet, Lt. Fruin, "Pappy" to his squadron mates, noticed a spot of...

80 years of fatal fun ...
November 1, 2005... Fill in the date, Choices are: 1912, 1920, 1943, 1951, 1957, 1966, 1970, 1980, 1985, 1992 July-August 1995 --A NavCad died in a crash after making several low passes over a beach in an F9F-5. His "own automobile, parked 75 feet to the...

Bravo Zulu.
November 1, 2005... December 1991 VMFA-314 On the first morning of the ground offensive in southern Kuwait, Maj. Knutzen and Capt. Quinlan launched in two F/A-18A Hornets for an air-to-ground mission. En route to the target area, the section received a...

1996-2005.(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... New Aircraft: 2001: The first KC-130Js arrive at MCAS Cherry Point and assignment to VMGRT-253. Important Dates: December 16-19, 1998: Operation Desert Fox includes strikes by Enterprise aircraft against Iraqi facilities. ...

"We just put an aircraft in the bay!".(personal narrative of an aircraft accident by the pilot)
November 1, 2005... June 1998 As I drove to work, I thought about what I had to face for the day. Maybe a 28-day pre-panel-up inspection, maybe a post-panel inspection, or maybe even some ejection-seat inspections or installations, which I always looked...

Welcome to naval aviation!
November 1, 2005... April 2002 I'd always heard the fleet stories from salty training-command instructors about how bad it can get flying around the ship, but I never believed it was much different from flying around the field. I always thought they were...

Airshow attack.(Column)
November 1, 2005... August 2001 Airshow season is our chance to show the American public the great machines they have bought for us. It is an even better opportunity to show them what great people we, who fly those machines, are. Though the Cobra usually...

I want to be a navy pilot.
November 1, 2005... a fifth grader I want to be a Navy pilot when I grow because it's fun and cosy to do. Pilots don't need much school, they just have to learn numbers so they can read instruments. I guess they should be able to read maps so they...

Brownshoes in action comix: "the kind real aviators like".(Cartoon)
November 1, 2005... 50 years ago... a magazine is born. HEY, I ALMOST DID THAT! And 50 years later, the format has changed slightly, but the idea remains the same: I ALMOST DID THAT! I ALMOST DID THAT! WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WORLD DO...